Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in order to preserve the integrity of the sporting experience and protect Australian children, the Senate notes the need for law reform, including measures such as:

(a) banning the broadcast advertising of live gambling odds for sports betting;

(b) banning the advertising of sports betting services on television and radio during children’s viewing hours, before 9 pm; and

(c) banning the paid promotion of sports betting services by sporting commentators and their guests during sports broadcasts.

It is fair to say that Australians love sport—it is at the centre of our culture and we are indeed a sporting country. We love to play sport, we love to watch sport. From playing backyard cricket at Mum's to packing the stands of the MCG for the AFL grand final, sport is part of the fabric of our lives. It has played an important role in my own life. I vividly remember as a 10-year-old swimming for the Preston swimming club diving into the ice-cold water of the 50-metre outdoor swimming pool on St Georges Road in Preston each Sunday morning, looking at the stopwatch and trying to beat my personal best time. I remember growing up in Reservoir, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, and the fierce rivalry of the Dredge St versus Tormey St cricket matches. I remember Dad being confused about the strange game of AFL and wanting his boy to play soccer, and cheering from the sidelines during my stint at the North Reservoir soccer club. I remember coming to love that strange game from the moment, downstairs on a fuzzy black-and-white television, I watched my beloved team, the mighty Tigers, thrash Collingwood in the 1980 grand final. It was a journey that led me to play VFA footy, firstly with Coburg—incidentally under the tutelage of Phil Cleary, a former member of this parliament—and later with the Oakleigh football club.

My football days are over and in my middle age I have discovered other pursuits—the joy of surfing, along with my colleague Senator Whish-Wilson; I cycle when I can; I play a bit of golf; I enjoy the odd game of cricket. When I do roll the arm over it is with the Deans Marsh Swamp Rats who, like many country sporting teams right around regional Australia, are an integral part of the local community. My experience is no different from that of many Australians. It is why we make sport a priority in public policy. The Commonwealth spends over $170 million each year on elite sports through the Australian Institute of Sport, and Australia is famous around the world as a sporting nation. Despite being a small country we are consistently near the top of the Olympic medal tally. Over the years we have been world champions at cricket, we have led the tennis world and we now have an Australian golfing champion in Adam Scott. We have come mighty close to beating the world's best in the game of soccer.

I understand that some people worry that we are a nation that is too obsessed with sport and that this obsession overshadows more important, more noble pursuits such as the arts and sciences.